Friction brake lever



T 1. HERBERT J). JA/VOLLS H. s. JANDUS FRICTION BRAKE LEVER Filed Dec.17, 1938 March 26, 1940.

motive vehicle.

Patented Mar. 26, 1940 FRICTION BRAKE LEVER I s L I Herbert S. Jandus,Detroit, Mich., assignor to Houdaille-Hershey Corporation, Detroit,Mich,

a corporation of Michigan Application December 17, 1938, Serial No.246,335

6 Claims, (01.74-531) The present invention relates to friction brakelevers and more particuilarly to one suitably adapted as an emergencybrake lever for an auto- An object-of the present invention is toprovide a friction type brake lever comprising a minimum number ofparts, and which may be economically manufactured and assembled andwhich at the same time is efficient'in service.

Another object of the present invention is to provide 'a brake leverarranged to be manufactured on a quantity basis and of such a characterthat close tolerances of manufacture, are reduced toa minimum.

. A further object of thepresent invention is to provide a friction typebrake lever in which the holding effect of the friction clutch parts isin excess of any load required from a commercial standpoint, as respectsautomotive brake lever construction.

A still further objectof the present invention is to provide a frictiontype brake lever in which a locking member and a clutch releasing memherare integral and formed as a one-piece stamping.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a handbrake lever construction for automotive vehicles in which the support,the

lever member, the one-piece locking member and release member are formedas stam'pings and i which may readily be assembled in operativerelation.

The invention has for a further object the provision of a hand brakelever mechanism wherein the major parts are formed from sheet metal asstampings; thereby efiecting substantial reduction in the cost ofmanufacture and assembly, and enhancing the interchangeability anduniformity of parts.

The invention has for an additional object the provision of a handbrakelever construction of such character that close manufacturing tolerancesare required in connection with but two-di- 50' invention will'beapparent from the following Idemensions.

The invention has for a further object the provisionof a hand brakelever of stampedmetal "wherein a locking dog is formed as a stamping andwhich is reinforced to eliminate flat bending incidental to service; IThe above, other and further objects of the scription and accompanyingdrawing.

thereof are as follows:

the views 7 Figure 1 is aview partially in edge elevation and partiallyin section of a brake lever constructed to embody the principles of thepresent inventi0n.- I s i Figure 2 isa view partially in side elevationand partially in longitudinal central section, of a lever embodying theprinciples of the present invention, and showing the parts in clutchedrelation.

Figure 3 is a fragmenta'l enlarged view of the fulcrum end of the leverof Figure 2, showing the parts in unclutched relation. T I

Figure 4 is a sectional View taken substantially in the plane indicated'by line IVIV of Fig ure 2. i

The drawing will now be explained.

A lever member A is illustrated as stamped from flat'metal provides abody portion which is U-shaped for the major portion of its length, anda hollow closed grip portion i with spaced legs 2 and 3 at the otherend, which are formed ascontinuations of the sidewalls of the bodyportion. v

A support or bracket is] stamped from flat 7 A stamping C is fashionedto provide a locking member 8 and a clutch release member 9, the members8 and 9 being parts of a single instrumentality, to-wit, the stampingCL. g

The locking member -8 is formed with a laterally extending off-set orbulged portion It! which is apertured to receive the sector 4. In theformation of the aperture the upper-and lower margins iii" thereof areformed with projections and. [2f

. which extend towards each other and areadapted to engage respectivelywith the concave and convex concentric surfaces of the sector 4 infrictional holding engagement to clutch the lever in adjusted position.i I

Preferably the surfaces'of thexprojections II and I2 are rounded,sufiicientlyto prevent damage to the concentric surfaces of the sectorwhen the lever'is in clutched engagement and a braking load isimposed onthe lever. v

- The construction of the extremities of the projection and thecharacteristics-of the metal used,

is such as to provide a friction type brake lever in which indenting ofthe concentric surfaces of the sector is practically eliminated thusenabling the use of the lever for a long period of time.

The side walls of, the lever are apertured to receive a tubular pivotmember I3 which pivotally mounts the one-piece stamping C on the lever,the stamping C being arranged to work between the side walls of the bodyof the lever member. A bolt, or rivet, or other pivot member, 24 passesthrough the tubular pivot member I3 and has connected to it a clevis I5which is operatively connected to the brake rigging in the vehicle, tothereby attach the brake rigging to the brake lever.

The locking member 8 is provided with an elon-,

gated aperture It for receiving the tubular pivot I3 for slight bodilymovement of the locking member with respect to the lever member as thelooking member is moved into and out of clutching engagement with thesector bore.

In order to maintain the locking member 8 I tilted sufiiciently to causeit to frictionally engage the sector with holding action, a spring I! isutilized. The spring is herein illustrated as a web of the lever memberand turned inwardly, as I illustrated in Figure 2.

The grip end of the clutch releasing member 9 terminates adjacent theupper end of the grip portion i of the lever member for fore-fingeroperation. A slight depression is formed in the clutch releasing memberto provide finger space I an angle to the plane of the locking member,as

illustrated. The presence of this flange strengthens the locking memberso that a strain imposed on the bulged portion carrying the projectionsI I and I2 incidental to brake pull, does not spread the projections Itend I2, but instead maintains the locking member strong'and rigid. Thisfact maintains the distance between the confronting convex surfaces ofthe projections I I and I2, uniform. Were no such provision made, itmight so happen that the distance between these projections wouldincrease, due to flexing or bending of some .portion of the lockingmember incidental to service, which would thus require greater rockingor tilting movement of the locking member to frictionally hold-the leverin adjusted position.

I This disadvantage. has been overcome by the construction described.

The formation of the bulge or off-set portion Iii increases the strengthof the locking member with respect to the projections II and I2.

The lever of the present invention has been illustrated as a dash orcowl type arrangement of The arrangement shown in Figure 2 depicts theparts with the lever in clutching engagement with the sector and theprojections II and I2 in frictional binding engagement with theconcentric surfaces 5 and 6 of the sector.

To release the lever from the position shown in Figure 2, and swing itto the left, the, operator grasps the grip portion I of the lever andwith his forefinger about the recess 200i the clutch release member 9squeezes the clutch release member which rocks the locking member 8about its pivotal connection to the lever member, to the position shownin Figure 3, which unolutches the locking member from the sector andenables movement of the lever to the left..

It is quite apparent that if the. grip portion I of the lever member begrasped and pulled to the right, as viewed in Figure 2, such movementwould unclutch the locking member as there would then from holdingengagement with the convex surface ii of the sector.

The locking member 8 remains in frictional binding engagement with theconcentric surfaces of the sector 4 by reason of the pull imposed on thelever member A by the brake mechanism attached to the olevis I5 thustending to urge the lever member to the left, as viewed in Figures 2 and3. Such tendency of the lever member to move, will cause the lockingmember 8 to have a tendency to swing about the upper projection I I inclockwise direction thereby urging the lower projection I2 into tightholding engagement with the convex surface 6 of the sector, thusincreasing the binding effect between the locking member and the sectorand firmly holding the lever member in its then adjustedposition.

It will be observed that the lever of the present invention contemplatesthree stamped parts, to-wit, the support or bracket, the lever member,and the one-piece locking member and clutch release member. In additiononly four other pieces are necessary, to-wit, the spring, the tubularpivot member, the pivot member I4 and the attaching pivot I.

There are only two dimensions which require able commercial steel may beutilized with the frictional parts carburized, which has been found tobe very satisfactory in service in preventing deformation of thefriction or clutching parts.

The contours given to the convex faces of the projections II and I2 aresuch as to prevent the formation of any ridges or indentations in theconcentric surfaces of the sector, thereby eliminating a drawback whichhas been present in friction brake levers of recent times, to-wit,formation of indentations in the, sector which remove the frictionalholding engagement and makes it a modified pawl and ratchet engagement,between the clutching member on the lever and the sector on the supportor bracket.

The invention has been described hereinmore or less precisely as todetails, yet it is to be understood that the invention is not to belimited thereby, as changes may be made in the arrange- -ment andproportion of parts, and equivalents maybe'substitutedQWithout departing fromthe spirit and scope ofithe invention.

The invention is-claimed as follows: 7 1. A brake lever constructionincluding a stamped metal lever member of U-shaped crosssection for amajorportion of its length having a grip portion at one end and spacedlegsv at the other end, a stamped metal attaching bracket or supporthaving an integral part formed as an 'arcuate' bar with concentricedges, said lever member being pivoted to said support with its legsastraddle said bar, a stamped metal combination one-piecemember-comprising a locking dog element and a. dog release elementpivoted between the side walls of said lever member with the plane ofthe major portion of the dog parallel. to the bar and between the barand the adjacent lever member leg, said locking dog element hav ing acentral portion laterally offset and provided with cam surfaces inregister with the concentric edges of said bar, and spring meansnormally biasing said combination memberto.

efiect locking engagement of said dog withsaid,

bar to hold said lever member adjusted position. v

2. A control device comprising in combination, a support comprising astamping formed .to proivide a lever pivot portion and an arcuate barportion with concentric edges with said portions cop1anar,-aleverlcomprising a stamping ofor'med to provide a hand grip portion atone end.

spaced legs at the other end and an intermediate jections with said bar.

shank portion of U-shaped cross-section, said lever being pivoted tosaid support with 'said'leg-s v. astraddle said barand pivoted to saidpivot-porv 'tion of said support, a 'dog' and release member comprisinga one-piece stamping formed to provide a locking dog portion and a dogrelease por-.

tion arranged and pivoted within the saidshanl;

portion of said lever, said dog having a longitudinal depression thereinwith the web thereof formed toprovide facing projections in registerwith the bar edges, and said one-piece dog and release member beingnormall'y spring biased to cause frictional holding engagement of saidpro- '3. A device as specified in to form a longitudinally extendingflang ,rigidify, ,said dog 'against flatbending. 7

claim 2 in whicnthe said-lever member between its side walls, thelocking dog projecting outwardly of the side I margins of the legs andthe manipulating poroutwardly of the sidewalls of the lever adjacent,

the grip portion of the same; one of the out-.

wardly projecting portions of the dog being bent '5. A device. asspecified in claim"2 with 'the locking-dog portion and dog releaseportion relatively offset longitudinally-to positionfsaid dog 20 betweenone leg of said lever member and said vbar and to position the releaseportionszsub-.

stantially midway between the sidewalls of the I lever shank,thebia'sing of said one-piece dog and release member, to holdingrelation with the bar causing the projection of! the manipulatingportion of the release member, said m'anipulating portion being rockableinto the lever member to,

' effect disengagement ofthe locking dog'andbar'i 1,

6. A brake lever construction v including stamped metal lever memberhaving a gripper tion atone end and spaced legsatthe other end, a

stampedmetal attaching bracket or'support having an integralpartformedas an arcuate' bar pivotedjto said support with its1egs astraddlesaid bar, a stamped metal locking dog element pivoted to said levermember with the plane "of the major portion of the dog parallel to th ebar and between the ,bar and the adjacent lever member leg,:said lockingdog element having alongiformed to provide vfacingl projections inregister engagement of said dog with said bar to hold said levermemberin adjusted position. -1 -v i with concentric edges, said levermember'fbeing.

-withzth'e-- bar edges, and" spring means normally biasing said lockingdog member to effectlocking v 45 I0 tion of the release "portion.partially projecting) 40 tudinal depression therein-with the web thereof1

